“Picture this…A while ago I decided to make a romantic dinner for two on Valentines Day; Lobster Thermador, that traditional dish of a lobster shell filled with cooked lobster meat, mushrooms, and cheese. Found a great recipe, followed it to a ‘T’, extracting all of the raw lobster meat from the shell by using a meat mallet to crush the shells, remove the meat, and cook it. Well, low and behold, who knew lobsters bleed??? There were red specs all over my white kitchen tiles! I didn’t notice this until after dinner when my partner asked, ‘what the heck did you slaughter in this kitchen?’–a little exaggeration of course, but true. With that in mind, when you remove the inner body cavity from the shell, as my recipe instructs, you may see a little red blood. Don’t panic. For the light hearted, you can always ask your butcher to kill the lobster before you take it home.”
The following recipe is derived from an original recipe for Lobster Thermador but redefined to create a lighter, healthier version; or so I’d like to think. Serve with your favorite side dish or salad and a fine chilled white wine.
Lobster with Chardonnay Sauce
1 ½ – 2 lb Maine Lobster
4 oz sliced mini Portobello mushrooms (cut into 2″ x 2″ semi-circle halves)
3 tbsp Olive Oil
1/3 cup minced shallots
2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp fresh, coarsely chopped parsley
½ tsp dried thyme
1 bay leaf
2 oz tomato paste
2 ½ cups Chardonnay wine
1 cup heavy cream
1 T shredded Mozzarella or Emmental cheese, optional
Salt and white pepper to taste
Note: A good pair of kitchen shears will help cut the lobster shells, as opposed to a knife.
Preparing the Lobster
Lobster Meat
- Place lobster on cutting board
- Plunge a heavy knife into the “cross-hairs” behind the head to kill the lobster, discard the head
- Cut tail from body, set aside
- Cut claws with legs attached from body
- Separate claws from legs; cut legs lengthwise through shell
- Slightly crack claws with heavy knife
- Rinse parts, reserve
Lobster Parts
- You will use the lobster parts to flavor the sauce and mushrooms
- With shears, split lobster body in two, remove and discard the tamale, rinse; separate inner body from outer shell
- Cut off small legs and cut them into 1″ pieces
- Reserve parts
Sauce
- In heavy saucepan, heat up 1 tbsp olive oil over low-medium heat
- Add all lobster shell parts (not Lobster Meat parts)
- Heat, stirring, until parts turn red
- Add 1/3 cup minced shallots, 2 tsp minced garlic; stir 3-4 minutes
- Add tomato paste, stir until mixed
- Add parley, thyme, bay leaf
- Add 2 cups of Chardonnay; stirring until reduced to 1 cup (about 20 – 25 minutes)
- Add heavy cream; stir until reduced to 3/4 cup (about 25 minutes)
- Remove from heat
- Season with salt, white pepper to taste
Mushrooms
Mini Portobello can be found in most supermarkets. They are about 3″ rounds as opposed to the larger 5-6″ mushrooms. I use the top of the mushroom, sliced. I cut off the bottom part of the mushroom cap and slice the cap so when placed in between lobster tail segments they are about the same size; placing cut side on the plate and the “circle cap” part facing up (see photo). If mini Portobellos aren’t available, use regular sliced Portobello caps and cut to fit 2″ rounds.
- In saucepan over low-medium heat, heat up 2 tbsp olive oil
- Place mushroom halves in pan
- Lightly season with salt and pepper
- Turn carefully after 1 minute
- Add 1 cup of Chardonnay wine
- Add split lobster legs, meat side down. This adds flavor to the mushrooms
- Turn as needed, cooking until mushrooms are tender and lobster meat cooked
- Remove from heat; remove mushrooms, cover, and reserve
- Remove legs; extract meat, reserve
Lobster
- Place lobster tail, claws in boiling water
- Boil for 5-6 minutes, until cooked
- Remove tail meat from shell
- Tightly wrap in plastic wrap to keep warm, set aside
- Next, remove meat from claws; chop coarsely
Presentation
- Strain sauce through fine sieve
- Season if necessary, reheat (low heat)
- Add coarsely chopped claw meat, and leg meat
- Slice lobster tail along tail ‘ribs’
- Place mushroom half between ribs
- Keep warm
- TIP- insert wooden skewer through assembled tail for easier handling
Plating the Dish
- Ladle warm lobster meat sauce on warm serving platter
- Place warm assembled lobster tail on plate, over sauce (remove skewer, if used)
- Sprinkle cheese over tail (optional)
- Garnish as desired
Enjoy!!
